SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY & MORE-WHAT I FIND INTERESTING

Interesting articles about science, psychology, philosophy, lifehacks, art, history, space, spies & more!

By Bethany Frasier

DWP
Most slave shipwrecks have been overlooked—until now
National Geographic - Kim M. Williamson
400 years after slavery began in the United States, black scuba divers are searching for ships that carried enslaved Africans to the Americas. No one ever asked the free Africans if they wanted to leave
NASA
Why we need to get back to Venus
theconversation.com - Paul K. Byrne
Just next door, cosmologically speaking, is a planet almost exactly like Earth. It’s about the same size, is made of about the same stuff and formed …
Nuclear Energy
The nuclear mutant is still evolving
Popular Science - Eleanor Cummins
In the early morning of April 26, 1986, reactor number 4 in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded. In the middle of a safety test, energy levels plunged, so the operators withdrew the majority of
Scotland
William Wallace: who was the Scottish rebel who defied Edward I?
historyextra.com - Kev Lochun
Legendary Scottish hero William Wallace, the rebellious thorn in the side of Edward I of England, was a man of murky origins... When you think of the …
Science
Scientists Find Stardust Buried in Antarctic Snow
The Atlantic - Marina Koren
The isotope iron-60, produced when a star explodes, is hidden in some of Earth’s most isolated places. The snow arrived at the laboratory in Munich inside Styrofoam boxes. It came from a German research
Science
Humans, More Than Drought, Are Fueling the Amazon's Flames
WIRED - Eric Niiler
From his office in Greenbelt, Maryland, Doug Morton can see the Amazon burning. He watches images from NASA satellites that circle the tropics four …
Suicide
Have humans developed natural defenses against suicide?
sciencemag.org - Elizabeth Culotta
While co-organizing a symposium a few years ago, a distinguished evolutionary psychologist named Nicholas Humphrey sought an expert to explore a …
Titanic
Underwater Video Offers New Look at Titanic Wreck
The New York Times
The bow of the R.M.S. Titanic, which lies at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean about 370 miles south of Newfoundland. Much has changed at the site since it was last visited 14 years ago.
Science
Record-breaking lightning as long as Kansas spotted
National Geographic - Maya Wei-Haas
The spidery streak is just one of many new lightning discoveries found in often overlooked satellite data. One evening while working, Michael Peterson found himself staring at an enormous spider. But a
Refugees
How Canada Imprisoned Jewish Refugees Alongside POWs
OZY - Carly Stern
Erwin Schild was just 20 years old and had already survived Dachau concentration camp when he boarded a military ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean to …
Aliens
The Hunt For Alien Life Has Been Significantly Narrowed Down
Mashable - Aakarsh Dube
Astronomers have been looking for signs of extraterrestrial life for a long time now but there hasn’t been any substantial discovery of signs of life in the cosmos. Now, astronomers might have found a
Fossils
This Tiny 20-Million-Year-Old Skull Could Improve Our Understanding of Brain Evolution
ScienceAlert - Jacinta Bowler
How do you study the evolution of brains, without any ancient brains to study? It's not a simple proposition, so it's no surprise that scientists are …
Solar Eclipse
It's Not Too Early to Plan for the Great American Total Solar Eclipse of 2024
space.com - Doris Elin Salazar
Today (Aug. 21) marks the two-year anniversary of the Great American Solar Eclipse, and if you are eager to view the next celestial sensation to …
Military History
Meet the CIA’s disguise artists who helped Cold War spies disappear
pbs.org
Jonna Mendez is one-half of a legendary espionage power couple. She and her husband, Tony, met as American spies in the Soviet Union and took turns …
Archaeology
An Archaeological Puzzle on the Danube
The New York Times
Genetics and Heredity,Pigs,Archaeology and Anthropology,Columbia University,Harvard University,Oxford University,Queen Mary University of London,Frantz, Laurent A F,Larson, Greger,Reich, David E (1974-
Culture
The Mysterious Disappearance of Ambrose Bierce
howstuffworks.com - Chris Opfer
Equal parts Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce was a journalist and novelist born in Ohio in 1842. Although he was well-known in his day, …
Angel-A
The Historical Significance of 1619
The Atlantic - Ibram X. Kendi
Marking the 400-year African American struggle to survive and to be free of racism Her name was Angela, one of the first known Africans in British North America. His name was John, the first known antiblack
Long-form Journalism
What Happens When The Adopted Kids Of Anti-Gay Parents Come Out?
buzzfeednews.com - Keri Williams
Evangelical Christians are the religious group most likely to adopt but are also most likely to oppose homosexuality, which can make life complicated …
Memes
Misinformation Has Created a New World Disorder
scientificamerican.com - Claire Wardle
As someone who studies the impact of misinformation on society, I often wish the young entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley who enabled communication at …
Amelia Earhart
Colossal crabs may hold clue to Amelia Earhart fate
National Geographic - Rachel Hartigan Shea
Does the secret of the famed aviator’s disappearance lie in the underground haunts of the world’s largest land invertebrate? The coconut crabs on the island of Nikumaroro are longer than a reporter’s wider
Science
India’s Skeleton Lake Has Bones Separated by Centuries
The Atlantic - Rachel Gutman
Hundreds of skeletons are scattered around a site high in the Himalayas, and a new study overturns a leading theory about how they got there. In a kinder world, archaeologists would study only formal carefully
Identity
The New York Times 1619 Project is reshaping the conversation on slavery. Conservatives hate it.
Vox - J. Brian Charles
On Sunday, the New York Times Magazine published perhaps its most ambitious work on race and slavery to date. The 1619 Project, which marks the 400th anniversary of the arrival of African slaves to Virginia,
History
The Master Who Lived In Medici Palace, Taught Michelangelo, And Finished Donatello’s Work, Rises After More Than Five Centuries
Forbes - Natasha Gural
Bertoldo di Giovanni lived in the mansion of Lorenzo the Magnificent. Upon his master Donatello’s death, Bertoldo finished the bronze pulpit reliefs from the life of Christ commissioned to grace the church
Genes
Why we like what we like: A scientist’s surprising findings
National Geographic - Bill Sullivan
Your genes, your germs, and your environment all may influence your tastes in food—as well as partners and politics. There may be nothing more self-defining than our tastes. Whether in food, wine, romantic
Science
Fractal Patterns Offer Clues to the Universe's Origin
WIRED - Natalie Wolchover
Pour milk in coffee, and the eddies and tendrils of white soon fade to brown. In half an hour, the drink cools to room temperature. Left for days, …
Amelia Earhart
Exclusive: Inside the search for Amelia Earhart’s airplane
National Geographic - Rachel Hartigan Shea
Many attempts have been made to discover the famed aviator's fate, but never with the technological tools at Robert Ballard's disposal. It’s a balmy tropical night south of the equator in the Pacific but
Slavery
The 1619 Project: Observing the 400th Anniversary of the Beginning of American Slavery
The New York Times
American slavery began 400 years ago this month. This is referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the country’s true origin.
Microplastics
Every Marine Animal Studied in This Report Contained Microplastics
globalcitizen.org - By Joe McCarthy and Erica Sanchez
“The ocean is a soup of microplastics and it’s only going to get worse.” Plastic pollution is causing immense harm to the world’s ecosystems, but …
Culture
Chrome Face Masks and Hyperrealistic Oil Portraits by Kip Omolade | Colossal
thisiscolossal.com - Andrew LaSane
Brooklyn-based artist Kip Omolade (previously) uses molding, casting, and painting techniques to create detailed masks and large-scale hyperrealistic …